Saturday, June 4, 2011

If I Fell

I'd never heard the Beatles' version of this song, just Evan Rachel Wood's Across the Universe version, which was slowed down with much softer instrumentals (just a guitar and maybe violins as far as I can tell). The video on YouTube for "If I Fell" is pretty great; it's a clip from the movie (of course). My favorite quote happens in the beginning, when Ringo severely scolds someone for casually playing his drum set. George warns the guy who did it, "He's very fussy about his drums, you know. They loom large in his legend."

According to Wikipedia, "If I Fell" 
is notable for its unusual structure, which includes an unrepeated introductory section sung by Lennon, followed by sequential verse sections, each having a slightly expanded form, but with no obvious chorus or bridge section... The remainder of the song features a two-part harmony, sung by Lennon and McCartney together into a single microphone at their suggestion, with Lennon singing the lower harmony while McCartney sings the higher one.
An interesting fact from Wikipedia was that, "according to Robert Fontenont of About.com, this was Kurt Cobain's favourite Beatles song, and was played by Nirvana whenever there were technical problems at their concerts." I tried to find a video but there weren't any on YouTube of Cobain himself singing the song. Too bad. I'm sure it was an interesting experience for concert-goers to hear Cobain, the original grunge rocker, singing a Beatles song; it definitely makes me curious as to how he sang/arranged it, whether he was faithful to the original or if he inserted his own style. If anyone's heard it, feel free to comment on the similarities and/or differences. :)

Despite the song's rather somber nature (a man warning a woman not to hurt him the way his last lover did--not the usual love song fare), it was apparently a source of much amusement for the guys. They often sang it during their live shows. 
The group typically performed the song faster than the studio version, and Lennon and McCartney often sang it with barely suppressed laughter. On more than one occasion it was introduced as "If I Fell Over".
This cracks me up. :P It's easy to see in the video, despite the fact they're acting, the kind of teasing camaraderie they had together at this point. It'll be interesting and, I'm sure, bittersweet to see what happens to them over time. 

So that's all for today. See you tomorrow!


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Heard It Tally: 4
Songs Completed: 40

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